SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
McCain Said It, Why Don't We?
Oct 17, 2008
John McCain said it. Right out loud in the third debate.
"Obviously, we had to take Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait or it would've threatened the Middle Eastern oil supply."
The first gulf war was about defending access to oil after all. McCain reiterated the theme later on, as he has in past debates, when he said that we need to "eliminate our dependence on the places in the world that harm our national security."
What he didn't say out loud is that the current war, the one in Iraq, is also about defending access to oil and other energy resources. This war has cost us $656 billion and counting. Our country has a long history of using military intervention to secure energy resources.
Indeed, according the latest report by the National Priorities Project (NPP), the US will spend around $100 billion of our defense budget this year alone defending access to fossil fuels worldwide. That figure does not include what is spent on the Iraq War, which, when included, will add an additional $100 billion.
That's $200 billion dollars that could be spent, in one year alone, on alternative energy resources and infrastructure, on renewable energy subsidies that will help create green collar jobs for working America.
Yet we spend just a couple of billion dollars each year on renewable energy and conservation. This number needs to be increased dramatically, and neither candidate has gone into detail about how to do that.
However, in response to Bob Sheiffer's question last night about what should be cut from the budget, McCain said, "We have presided over the largest increase in government since the Great Society."
What he didn't say was that the military budget has increased by over 100% since 2000, and we now spend more than the rest of the world combined. But McCain did say he'd cut spending on defense. "I know how to save billions of dollars in defense spending," he said. "I know how to eliminate programs." He said it, although he didn't name the programs.
Let us offer some suggestions. Foreign Policy in Focus, in its Unified Security Budget for the United States, FY 2009, has identified reasonable ways of eliminating $61 billion worth of unnecessary weapons programs and waste in one year. Add to that the total amount of money NPP estimates the US spends defending oil in one year, and we are well on our way to a renewed investment in energy that is clean and efficient, and to eliminating these global conflicts over energy resources.
In the New Yorker in early September, Sarah Palin was quoted as saying, about the Iraq War, "it better not have to do with oil and dependence on foreign energy". She has a son there, after all.
The fact is, our economic and military policies are intertwined. Energy is the life-blood of our economy, and our energy policy is, to this point, inextricably tied to our foreign policy. Let's bring this issue, and our soldiers, home.
In this post-debate environment, let's forget about performance, forget about facial expressions, forget about Joe the Plumber. Let's get to the most important issue of our time - energy and its connection to war. McCain said it. Sarah Palin said it. We need to be fearless and continue saying it. Right out loud.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Suzanne Smith
Suzanne Smith, a Foreign Policy In Focus contributor, is an economist with the National Priorities Project.
John McCain said it. Right out loud in the third debate.
"Obviously, we had to take Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait or it would've threatened the Middle Eastern oil supply."
The first gulf war was about defending access to oil after all. McCain reiterated the theme later on, as he has in past debates, when he said that we need to "eliminate our dependence on the places in the world that harm our national security."
What he didn't say out loud is that the current war, the one in Iraq, is also about defending access to oil and other energy resources. This war has cost us $656 billion and counting. Our country has a long history of using military intervention to secure energy resources.
Indeed, according the latest report by the National Priorities Project (NPP), the US will spend around $100 billion of our defense budget this year alone defending access to fossil fuels worldwide. That figure does not include what is spent on the Iraq War, which, when included, will add an additional $100 billion.
That's $200 billion dollars that could be spent, in one year alone, on alternative energy resources and infrastructure, on renewable energy subsidies that will help create green collar jobs for working America.
Yet we spend just a couple of billion dollars each year on renewable energy and conservation. This number needs to be increased dramatically, and neither candidate has gone into detail about how to do that.
However, in response to Bob Sheiffer's question last night about what should be cut from the budget, McCain said, "We have presided over the largest increase in government since the Great Society."
What he didn't say was that the military budget has increased by over 100% since 2000, and we now spend more than the rest of the world combined. But McCain did say he'd cut spending on defense. "I know how to save billions of dollars in defense spending," he said. "I know how to eliminate programs." He said it, although he didn't name the programs.
Let us offer some suggestions. Foreign Policy in Focus, in its Unified Security Budget for the United States, FY 2009, has identified reasonable ways of eliminating $61 billion worth of unnecessary weapons programs and waste in one year. Add to that the total amount of money NPP estimates the US spends defending oil in one year, and we are well on our way to a renewed investment in energy that is clean and efficient, and to eliminating these global conflicts over energy resources.
In the New Yorker in early September, Sarah Palin was quoted as saying, about the Iraq War, "it better not have to do with oil and dependence on foreign energy". She has a son there, after all.
The fact is, our economic and military policies are intertwined. Energy is the life-blood of our economy, and our energy policy is, to this point, inextricably tied to our foreign policy. Let's bring this issue, and our soldiers, home.
In this post-debate environment, let's forget about performance, forget about facial expressions, forget about Joe the Plumber. Let's get to the most important issue of our time - energy and its connection to war. McCain said it. Sarah Palin said it. We need to be fearless and continue saying it. Right out loud.
Suzanne Smith
Suzanne Smith, a Foreign Policy In Focus contributor, is an economist with the National Priorities Project.
John McCain said it. Right out loud in the third debate.
"Obviously, we had to take Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait or it would've threatened the Middle Eastern oil supply."
The first gulf war was about defending access to oil after all. McCain reiterated the theme later on, as he has in past debates, when he said that we need to "eliminate our dependence on the places in the world that harm our national security."
What he didn't say out loud is that the current war, the one in Iraq, is also about defending access to oil and other energy resources. This war has cost us $656 billion and counting. Our country has a long history of using military intervention to secure energy resources.
Indeed, according the latest report by the National Priorities Project (NPP), the US will spend around $100 billion of our defense budget this year alone defending access to fossil fuels worldwide. That figure does not include what is spent on the Iraq War, which, when included, will add an additional $100 billion.
That's $200 billion dollars that could be spent, in one year alone, on alternative energy resources and infrastructure, on renewable energy subsidies that will help create green collar jobs for working America.
Yet we spend just a couple of billion dollars each year on renewable energy and conservation. This number needs to be increased dramatically, and neither candidate has gone into detail about how to do that.
However, in response to Bob Sheiffer's question last night about what should be cut from the budget, McCain said, "We have presided over the largest increase in government since the Great Society."
What he didn't say was that the military budget has increased by over 100% since 2000, and we now spend more than the rest of the world combined. But McCain did say he'd cut spending on defense. "I know how to save billions of dollars in defense spending," he said. "I know how to eliminate programs." He said it, although he didn't name the programs.
Let us offer some suggestions. Foreign Policy in Focus, in its Unified Security Budget for the United States, FY 2009, has identified reasonable ways of eliminating $61 billion worth of unnecessary weapons programs and waste in one year. Add to that the total amount of money NPP estimates the US spends defending oil in one year, and we are well on our way to a renewed investment in energy that is clean and efficient, and to eliminating these global conflicts over energy resources.
In the New Yorker in early September, Sarah Palin was quoted as saying, about the Iraq War, "it better not have to do with oil and dependence on foreign energy". She has a son there, after all.
The fact is, our economic and military policies are intertwined. Energy is the life-blood of our economy, and our energy policy is, to this point, inextricably tied to our foreign policy. Let's bring this issue, and our soldiers, home.
In this post-debate environment, let's forget about performance, forget about facial expressions, forget about Joe the Plumber. Let's get to the most important issue of our time - energy and its connection to war. McCain said it. Sarah Palin said it. We need to be fearless and continue saying it. Right out loud.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.